Skip to main content
USENIX
  • Conferences
  • Students
Sign in
  • Home
  • Attend
    • Registration Information
    • Registration Discounts
    • Venue, Hotel, and Travel
    • Students and Grants
    • Co-located Events
      • SOUPS 2016
      • HotCloud '16
      • HotStorage '16
  • Program
    • At a Glance
    • Technical Sessions
  • Activities
    • Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
    • Poster Session
  • Participate
    • Instructions for Authors and Speakers
    • Call for Papers
    • Call for Practitioner Talks
  • Sponsorship
  • About
    • Organizers
    • Help Promote!
    • Questions
    • Past Conferences
  • Home
  • Attend
  • Program
  • Activities
  • Participate
  • Sponsorship
  • About

sponsors

Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Industry Partner
Industry Partner
Industry Partner

help promote

USENIX ATC '16

Get
Help Promote graphics!

connect with us


  •  Twitter
  •  Facebook
  •  LinkedIn
  •  Google+
  •  YouTube

twitter

Tweets by @usenix

usenix conference policies

  • Event Code of Conduct
  • Conference Network Policy
  • Statement on Environmental Responsibility Policy

You are here

Home ยป Unsafe Time Handling in Smartphones
Tweet

connect with us

Unsafe Time Handling in Smartphones

Authors: 

Abhilash Jindal, Prahlad Joshi, Y. Charlie Hu, and Samuel Midkiff, Purdue University

Abstract: 

Time manipulation, typically done using gettime() and settime(), happens extensively across all software layers in smartphones, from the kernel, to the framework, to millions of apps. This paper presents the first study of a new class of software bugs on smartphones called sleep-induced time bugs (SITB). SITB happenswhen the phone is suspended, due to the aggressive sleeping policy adopted in smartphones, in the middle of a time critical section where time is being manipulated and delay caused by unexpected phone suspension alters the intended program behavior.

We first characterize time usages in the Android kernel, framework, and 978 apps into four categories and study their vulnerabilities to system suspension. Our study shows time manipulation happens extensively in all three software layers, totaling 1047, 1737 and 7798 times, respectively, and all four usage patterns are vulnerable to SITBs. We then present a tool called KLOCK, that makes use of a set of static analyses to systematically identify sleep-induced time bugs in three of the four time usage categories. When applied to five differentAndroid Linux kernels, KLOCK correctly flagged 63 SITBvulnerable time manipulation instances as time bugs.

Abhilash Jindal, Purdue University

Y. Charlie Hu, Purdue University

Samuel Midkiff, Purdue University

Prahlad Joshi, Purdue University

Open Access Media

USENIX is committed to Open Access to the research presented at our events. Papers and proceedings are freely available to everyone once the event begins. Any video, audio, and/or slides that are posted after the event are also free and open to everyone. Support USENIX and our commitment to Open Access.

BibTeX
@inproceedings {196198,
author = {Abhilash Jindal and Y. Charlie Hu and Samuel Midkiff and Prahlad Joshi},
title = {Unsafe Time Handling in Smartphones},
booktitle = {2016 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC 16)},
year = {2016},
isbn = {978-1-931971-30-0},
address = {Denver, CO},
pages = {115--127},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc16/technical-sessions/presentation/jindal},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jun,
}
Download
atc16_paper-jindal.pdf
View the slides

Presentation Audio

MP3 Download

Download Audio

  • Log in or    Register to post comments

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Media Sponsors & Industry Partners

© USENIX

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us